Any movie that features Donnie Yen going up against Mike Tyson with fight choreography designed by Yuen Woo-Ping at least has a sense of humor about itself. But Ip Man 3...is far more than this burst of stunt casting and pop-culture cool suggests.

The bright idea of the first Ip Man was to use a real person's life as the rough outline for a conventional martial arts adventure. That basic premise still has some juice left, given that it's always a joy to watch Yen work.

Stone-faced martial-arts star Donnie Yen does a lot with a little in wuxia weepy Ip Man 3, the rare kung fu film whose sentimental dialogue scenes are just as good as its stripped-down action sequences.

Less offensively nationalistic than the second installment but falling short of the glowing humanity, genial Cantonese humor and visual flair of the first, the pic is somewhat tarnished by its pedestrian plot and limp characterization.

The only real spark in the film is provided by Yen's costar Zhang Jin as Cheung Tin-chi, an upstart devotee of the wing chun school intent on knocking Ip off his hallowed throne atop Hong Kong's martial-arts pantheon.